Chapters of a Life: There's no place like home

1

The snow swirled lazily around me as I rode into the heart of Blood Wolf, the first few miles I had felt eyes upon me yet no one attempted to stop me. As I pulled my stallion to a halt in front of Dad's door I hollered out, "I'm back, ya ol' wolf". Jumping off I head for the porch, only for a female to step out and give me a hard look over.

"What's all the hollering going on?"

"Where's my Dad?" Why was there a female in our home? I was beginning to wonder if I had wandered into the wrong place.

"I'd tell ya if I had any idea who it was yer talkin' 'bout", her words say. But her eyes and body language tell me something else.

Straightening my spine, "Beg pardon mam, I am looking for Liam Connolly. My Dad." I say to her with a smile and a flash of a tooth.

"Yer a liar Alpha ain't got no brats. I should know he's me mate." She tells me standing on the porch with her arms crossed over her bosom. "Ya need to scat before I call the warriors and have ya killed for lyin' to this pack's Luna." She doubled down.

"I would relish a good scrap so how about you call those warriors", I tell her, taking off my coat and moving the animals out of the way. After getting everything readied I asked, "Did ya call' um yet"?

With a smirk, she says, "Yep".

The next bit happened in slow motion. One minute I was standing facing the strange female the next I felt someone jump at me. Ducking and spinning I caught the person by the throat and tossed them back. "Dang gal what did they teach ya back there?" Alastar laid there rubbing his throat and grinning like an idiot.

"Alastar is tha... Wha... WOW, you have really bulked up", how rude was I. Haven't seen a male in five years and that is all that I can get out, pathic.

"Same ol' Bo, haven't lost your way with words", he laughs. I hold out my hand and he takes it, instead of pulling me down he lets me help him up. Turning me in his arm he gives me a side hug, a sign he is now a mated wolf.

"Somebody found their mate. Who is it? Do I know them? I bet it's..."

"Don't you ever stop for a breath?" He asks while moving to address the female fuming on the porch. "Morgana what did ya tell her?"

"The truth", the female says. But now her posture is less combative and more submissive.

"What did ya tell her, exactly?" This time his words held more weight. While I could feel the weight, it meant nothing to me as I was a higher rank than he was.

She whispered the next words, "That she is a liar". But these words she spits out loud and clear, " An she is too, the Alpha ain't got no brats". She has now gone back on the defensive. I stand back and let Alastar do his work.

"She also told me that she was his mate", I say casually. She blanches and begins to wring her hands, "Now warrior I just told her that, to make her go away".

"Morgana the Alpha has told you time and again that you are not and never will be his mate. He gave you this cabin because you are a pack member who was in need, for no other reason. This was your last chance." He tells her. Now I'm intrigued, where was Dad living.

"You whore, this is your fault. If you hadn't shown up here with your lies, everything would be fine", she screeches at me as she launches herself off the porch at me.

I dodged her but she managed to scrape me with her nails along my arm.

Before I could reach her the male I had been looking for arrived. "This is not how I expected ya to come home", he tells me.

I roll to my feet and brush myself off as Alastar struggles to restrain Morgana. "Alpha, thank the Goddess you have arrived. This female attacked me when I called her a liar." She gasps out.

"Really I have never known Bo to lie. So enlighten me as to what it was she lied about." Several more had ventured in to see what the commotion was all about, some I recognized and others I did not. I could see how Dad was baiting her just waiting for the moment to slam the trap shut, Sarah called it 'giving someone enough rope to hang themselves' and it was a fitting description.

"Alpha she claims yer her Da", she says as if she is putting the final nail in my coffin. Looking about those who know me smile, the others look puzzled or angry.

"Well Morgana, Bo is not a liar." He says moving to gather me up for the hug I expected upon first seeing his mangy hide.

"WHAT!"

"Tomorrow we will have a proper welcome home for her but for now. WELCOME HOME MY PUP!" He says squeezing the life out of me.

"Need air. Daaaddd." I whisper yell trying to get him to let go.

"It's just that I have missed ya so much and ya were going so long." He says as we stand forehead to forehead.

"Uh, Alpha", Alastar says. "Do you want me to deal with her?" He says pointing to Morgana who is on her knees bawling.

"Do as we discussed she knew the punishment for stepping over the line again." Alpha Liam says. Alastar, Morgana and her bawling disappear into the distance.

"Are ya hungry? I wasn't expecting ya till tomorrow, ya made a good time. Somehow ya lost the last tracker we had on ya, so we figured ya had stopped for the night." Dad rambles on as we walk toward his new den. The stallion and pack animals follow along behind me, we must look like a funny duck parade. This feels wrong. I had pictured returning so many times, sometimes I would be in fur other times in skin. I would show up and my friends and family would be just the same as I left them, it would be as if I had never left. They would greet me and ask me about my adventures and training, I would amaze them with my new skills and they would be so proud. Yet, even though I knew that life here had not halted, it was hard to fathom how much they and I had changed. This felt very odd.

We finally made it to Dad's new den. It was large, very large, two stories with an attic. It looked more like a log version of those townhomes I'd seen back East. "What ya think", he asks? I can hear the excitement in his voice.

"It's beautiful", I tell him, not knowing what else to say.

"Come on in and I'll introduce ya to those here. As I said before, the rest will get to see ya tomorrow at the welcome home gathering." He continues to rattle on, opening the door and ushering me in.

"Uh Dad, I need to care for the animals first." I tell him backing out of his hold, "I also need to know where these supplies need to be unloaded."

"Ya know I forgot about all that. I am just so happy to have you back." He gives me a huge smile. Then he has that distance look that signifies someone using the link. "You can leave them here I called Smithy and Cook to come, they'll unload the mules and take care of them and the stallion." He says gripping my arm and moving into the den toward the kitchen.

"That is not a good..." Before I could get it out a scream was in the air. Rushing past Dad I threw open the door to see the stallion with blood on his lips and flesh between his teeth. As Dad made for the male I assume was Smithy, I grabbed my stallion. "Whoa there, easy easy big guy", I cooed to him. Speaking softly, "I am going to take him around back and walk him a little. When we come back around I'll need to know where he will be stabled." With that, I turned at the corner of the house and moved him and the pack animals, for those crazy beasts had followed us, toward the river. Using some snow I cleaned his face and told him he needed to stop doing things like this, he was going to get a reputation as a wolf eater. I also hugged him and told him what a great horse he was and that I loved him, as always he whinnied back and hung his head over my shoulder holding me close to him. The night had settled in when I returned to the den, Dad and several others were there waiting on me.

"This can't happen again if it does..." He petered out letting me know that he would kill my stallion.

Steeling my spine I told all present, "This is my stallion. No one touches him. Let it be known that he is a biter, once they know, it is on them if they come to close. He will not pay for their stupidity. Now, where does this need to be offloaded? We have had a long hard day and we all need some rest." I was done, I needed my animals bedded down, food, and a mat. Tomorrow was soon enough to begin to rebuild my home here.